Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop
by Angie947
Summary: The lead singer in Edward's band drops out and they need a replacement fast. Unfortunately, the only person available is the one person he hasn't spoken to in ten years and absolutely cannot stand for reasons the two never speak of. E/B
1. Recording & Blasts from the Past

**Hi guys! I'm Angie! This is a story that I had previously started under a different alias and for a different fandom but felt it would fit better here. I hope you guys enjoy it because I had a lot of fun writing it. **

**This story was inspired by the song Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg. It's a beautiful song and I recommend listening to it at least once in your lifetime if one wants to die knowing they have had complete satisfaction in their life. **

**I have blog up at www(dot)angieferrarifanfics(dot)blogspot(dot)com . You should definitely check it out for extras, teasers, visual aid and my wonderful, fantabulous random stream of consciousness. Soo, subscribe! **

**Also, I'm looking for a beta. So, if you're interested let me know!**

**Make sure you review. It always means a lot to me. Let me know what your favorite part was! :) **

**Flashbacks are _italicized_! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Twilight_ or the song _Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop_ by Landon Pigg **

* * *

I never really believed in the idea of predicting your own fate. But, I'd never doubt the power of the tongue again.

.

"What the _hell_ are we gonna do now?"

They – Emmett and Jasper – were all looking at me. They were _always_ looking at me. Like I was supposed to have the fucking answer to life or something. Which_, newsflash!_ I didn't. Somehow I became the leader of this group and I don't remember ever volunteering.

"Hey," I started, annoyed. I plucked a couple chords out on my guitar trying to ignore the glares that were being thrown my way. "I stayed up all night writing the song! You cannot expect me to think of everything."

Emmett punched my shoulder. Hard. "Edward, we have all had to write songs, however, you being you, just had to wait until the very last minute. Regardless, we're screwed now." I rubbed at my arm. Emmett was always whining at me. Not his best trait, if you ask me.

I shrugged my shoulders and leaned back against the couch. "We're not screwed."

But, we totally were.

Allow me to bring you up to speed on the past ten years.

Emmett, Jasper, and I are in a band called Breaking Dawn. Breaking Dawn got its start in eleventh grade at Fork High School's Battle of the Bands. We started getting legit gigs during twelfth grade and by freshman year in college we got discovered in some random club. Sp, much to our parent's dismay, after about a semester into college we dropped out and moved to New York to pursue our careers as Rock Gods.

However, our careers as Rock Gods got put to an abrupt halt when the lame ass record label people claimed that although my voice had some "serious potential" and that although we all brought our own "interesting character" to the band, we really needed a lead singer who could really _bring_ something, a wider audience, even, to the band.

In other words they wanted a babe lead singer.

They brought in this girl, total babe, named Tanya Denali. Long blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, rocking body... _The works_. Tanya and I sing lead in our band. However, lately it's been mostly her.

And we, as a band, are known worldwide – okay maybe just this continent – and have successfully made two number two albums, and have at least 10 number two songs. And, that's great. There is absolutely nothing wrong with our success. Not many people can say they've gotten to where we are. And, that's huge. I should be very proud, but something's missing. We have never reached the number one spot. We always get so close, but never quite grasp it. But, this album was going to be the one. Our number _one_. I could just feel it. So this unnecessary drama, this rock band bullshit, this temperamental ego clashing was definitely _not_ what we needed right now.

But, yeah, back to being screwed.

There's a reason for that.

Tanya, while being a total babe, is a total pain in the ass. My ass, in particular. She is what they call an all work and no play type of woman. Apparently, she has every right to be mad at me. Yes, our album is running a couple months late. But, we (me) didn't feel like it was ready yet. Why send out something that you know isn't perfect? And, yes, we do have to finish this song by nine in the morning, which gives us only approximately six hours. But, I tend not to respond well to "or else's". They're always so empty anyway. But, the guys are not really willing to take that chance.

However, there was _no_ reason for anyone to burst out the door, throwing a huge tantrum, flinging around words like "I quit!" just because I might have been making funny faces behind her back while she was having, what she likes to call, a _serious moment_. Nevertheless, apparently the phrase "I quit" means she doesn't want to be part of the band anymore or something. The problem is we still need that song finished by nine and I do not believe our "interesting character" will be enough to carry this song, especially since I put my heart and soul into writing this and I want it to be perfect.

So far, this is what I've come up with:

Plan A: Record the song without Tanya

We were Breaking Dawn before her, we can be Breaking Dawn after her. My voice can stand alone. I am a Rock God.

Plan B: Call in for back-up

This will work, of course. Plan A, I mean.

.

So, it looks like I may have to go to Plan B.

.

"Em, Jas, there are tons of females out there that we know who we could get to feature on this song."

Emmett nodded sarcastically. "Yeah, probably. But, not at four o'clock in the morning."

I pursed my lips and looked over at Jasper who was lying out on the couch with his face in the cushions. "Well, I don't know what to tell you guys. I tried to sing it myself and you guys didn't like it." I tossed whatever was in my hands onto the ground. "I did my part. It's out of my hands now."

"Hell, no." Jasper popped up suddenly. "It's your fault we're even in this godforsaken mess." His face began to turn red and looked over at me seriously. "If we get kicked off of the label because of this, I'm never speaking to you again."

I swallowed, but rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry, but you guys are asking me to the one thing that I would rather pour bleach in my eyes and then stab my foot and then saw off my arm like that guy in 127 hours than do." I grab my guitar and get up to walk out of the room, when Emmett grabbed me from behind and yanked me back onto the couch.

He gets right in my face and whispers as serious as I've ever seen him. "If you hadn't slept with Tanya, we wouldn't be in this mess. You fix this. You _fix_ this." He and Jasper get up and walk toward the door, before they leave Emmett threw a piece of paper at me.

"Call her."

I ducked away from the paper like it was made of acid. Calling her ranked about a number three on the Things Edward Cullen Never Wants to do In Life list.

I paced back and forth for what felt like hours, but was probably (and hopefully) only minutes. I ran over possible conversation starters in my mind, most included the weather and family. I breathed in and breathed out and finally picked up the phone and the piece of paper that had fallen on the floor. I dialed the number and listened to it ring. And ring. And ring.

"… uh, hello?" The voice on the other line answered. It was her. I could tell even through her groggy, sleepy voice.

"Bella Swan." I stated.

There was a pause and then, "Ew." I could almost hear her frown. "Edward Cullen, you jackass. How the _fuck_ did you get this number?"

"Still harboring all that misplaced hostility, I see." I said. "Tell me, why is it exactly that you are so hostile towards me? I think normally I'm the one who's supposed to be hostile in this situation. At least that's what I've read in all those Normal Response from Normal Human Being articles that Sports Illustrated always has floating around."

"And yet, here I am, being hostile."

"Here you are." I replied back just as sarcastic. "I wonder, if you bottled all that hostility and harnessed all that energy into something useful, think of all the actual useful things you could do."

"And, just think of all the ways I could kill you without even having to move a finger!" She said with mock enthusiasm.

"You always were the creative one in the bunch. I could never compete with your intellectual prowess."

"Seriously, who gave you my phone number?"

"Esme," I admitted.

"That bitch." She muttered to herself. "Fantastic. Look, Edward, I've got things to do and I don't feel like bickering with you. What are you even doing up this early? Can you even breathe this air?"

I took the phone from my ear and glanced at the time. It was five a.m. now.

"Now, Bella, is that anyway to talk to someone you haven't spoken to in, what's it been, Bells, like, two years?"

"Ten."

I laughed. "You say potato."

There was silence on her end for a while and I just knew she was about to hang up.

"Okay, Edward. We'll do this your way." She breathed out. "What's up, Edward? How's life? That little band you have, you're still doing that right? How's that going for you?"

I scoffed. _Little_ band. "Well you know, that _little band_ of mine did perform at the last Academy Awards. I could see how you wouldn't know about it, or anything, Miss A-List Movie Star."

"What do you want, Edward?" She was just the same as always. Always cutting to the chase. No bullshit. No games.

I sighed and licked my bottom lip. "I need your assistance." I paused. If I was going to do this I would have to be straightforward. "I mean, help. I need help. I need your help. I need _you_ to help _me_."

Silence. I just loved silence.

"Could you possibly, maybe, drop by the studio really quick? Sing a couple of lines? Then continue on with whatever you were going to do for the day?" I rushed out, running a hand through my hair and the other one was burning a whole through my thigh.

"Uh, what now?" Except she said it so fast that it was more like uhwanow?

But, she heard me.

"Bella,"

"No."

"But – "

"I'm sleeping!"

"Bella, I - "

She interrupted, "Edward, there are millions of people hanging out on the streets of New York, just dying to catch their big break. Literally. Ask one of them."

"I would love to. But it needs to be done in the next few hours and the guys want you. We know you can sing. You've been in the band before and –"

"Edward, that was for a dumb Battle of the Bands concert that took place in our high school gymnasium. And, it was one time. You kicked me out afterwards."

"It was a collective decision!" I covered the left side of my face with my hand and let out a huge breath.

"How do you possibly believe we'll finish a whole song in four hours?" She asked. "You think you can finish a song in one day?"

"Hey," I joked. "Rome was built in a day, wasn't it?"

"No, it wasn't." Her voice got louder. "And that's exactly my point, Edward!"

"Bella, I wouldn't ask if I hadn't already exhausted all my other options."

"What happened to Sandy?" She asked. I clenched my teeth. She meant Tanya. She knew her name. Everyone on this continent knew her name.

"Bella, I really need your help on this one. We're on a huge time crunch here. Tanya's gone and I could really lose my job here. And," I paused, thinking through what I was about to say. I continued slowly, "You owe me."

I heard her sigh and I knew she was breaking. I could practically hear it.

"Two hours – "

"YES!" I yelled to the guys that Plan B was in action.

"- you get me for two hours. Not a minute more."

"Totally."

"And there are rules." She continued. I rolled my eyes and her persistence. "But, only one really. No arguing." I scoffed and then she amends. "At least to the point where I can get a migraine."

I smiled to myself. "Absolutely." My ass is saved.

"And no mention of…" I heard her swallow.

"Don't worry about it." I waved my hand to the empty room. "You need the address?"

"No," And then she hung up.

This could work. This would work.

.

"Bella Swan!" Emmett grabbed her up in a huge, tight bear hug as soon as she walked into the room. "I haven't seen you in ages. I've missed you."

She was as beautiful as ever. She had long brown hair and deep brown eyes. She looked older but not aged. Her features had softened and she seemed skinnier. If that was even possible.

She smiled a huge, wide grin. "Aw, I missed you, too, Em." She walked over to Jasper and gave him an equally warm hug.

Jasper grinned at her. "I caught your last movie. Brilliant."

She did a mini-curtsey and faked a British accent. "Why, thank you, kind sir."

"Seriously," Jasper said, throwing an arm over her shoulders. "I'm hearing Oscar buzz."

Bella scoffed. "From who?"

Jasper smirked. "Okay, so the buzz is mostly just Alice and I talking amongst ourselves. But, the buzz has to start somewhere, am I right?"

Bella poked him in his belly and giggled. "You're always right."

They walked right up to me and her smile left her face instantly. "Edward."

I answered in the same neutral tone. "Bella." I looked over at the guys and turned toward the sound booth. "Let's get to work."

We have about three hours to make some serious magic here. I handed her the song lyrics and she sat down on the sofa and began to read them over. I chew my bottom lip nervously as I watched recognition spread across her face.

I turned away from her and grabbed a bottle of water. I spit out at her, "Start memorizing. We don't have a lot of time."

First, we have her listen to the track, but only about a good three times. Not enough for perfection, but it would have to do.

"Okay, um. I'll take the first part, alright? I highlighted your parts, see? We've already done most of the instrumentals. So all we need to do is sing." I reached over her, pointing to her paper. She stiffened. I pretended not to notice. "Also, it helps if you actually act like you mean what you're singing, okay? _Feel_ the song. Make me believe you."

"I _know_ how to act, Edward!" She stabbed me in the arm with the back of her pencil. I raised an eyebrow and pointed to the microphone in our sound proof box. "Well, then, enlighten us, Oh Great One."

She looked back at me, and stomped – there really was no other way to describe the way she moved – into the booth. Once I had entered the booth, I set up the papers on the stand in front of us and mess with the microphone. I breathed out. This was going to be weird. Singing with Bella. Singing to Bella. Especially after everything that's happened between us.

I cleared my throat and licked my lips. "Um, _Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop_. Take One." I say into the microphone, and strap on my guitar.

Bella raised her eyebrow at me, and I stared back straight into her eyes – only because, you know, I had to _feel_ the song. Jasper started strumming the guitar and then I joined in. I continued to stare into her eyes as I sang, "_I think that possibly, maybe I'm falling for you_"

Bella stared back at me with a blank look and something flashes in her eyes. But, it was gone just as quickly as it appeared. However, she missed her cue.

"Uh," She blinked at me as we stopped playing. "That was your line."

Her blinking became rapid. "Right! Sorry, um," Into the microphone she stated, "_Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop_ take 2?"

I smirked. She was nervous. It was cute. I so rarely ever saw her unsettled and unsure of herself. But, I refused to let my mind wander down the path of reasons why she was nervous. Especially the road that lead to her being nervous to see me for the first time in years. And me singing to her. That path never crossed my mind.

I started again, "_I think that possibly, maybe I'm falling for you_."

Bella bit her bottom lip and sang, "_Yes, there's a chance that I've fallen quite hard over you_"

And she's staring me right back in the face, almost as if – and this may be completely crazy – she means every word she was saying.

"_I've seen the paths that your eyes wander down / I want to come too_"

She smiled at me and sings, "_I think that possibly, maybe I'm falling for you_"

I placed my hand on top of the one she had resting on the music stand in front of us. "_No one understands me quite like you do / Through all of the shadowy corners of me_"

_I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much__  
__All of the while I never knew__I think that possibly__  
__Maybe I'm falling for you__  
__Yes there's a chance that I've fallen quite hard over you_

_I've seen the waters that make your eyes shine / Now I'm shining too  
Because, oh, Because I've fallen quite hard over you  
_

_If I didn't know you I'd rather not know__  
__If I couldn't have you I'd rather be alone  
__I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much__  
__All of the while I never knew  
__I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much__  
__All of the while I never knew  
__All of the while__  
__All of the while__  
__All of the while it was you, you_

By the end of the song there were many things that did NOT happen. We definitely had _not_ somehow gotten insanely close – to the point where I could almost actually feel her breath on my skin. My hand had definitely _not_ somehow made its way to cupping her cheek. Somehow, my guitar did _not_ end up behind me. And our lips were most certainly not basically two centimeters away from hers. These things most certainly did not happen.

But, maybe they did.

We held each other's gaze until we heard,

"Oh my god,"

"That was epic!"

Bella suddenly pulled away, turned her back to me, and wiped at her face.

I turned to the glass and saw Emmett at the sound board holding down a button. Emmett jumped up and down. "Does anyone else smell a number one hit? Or is that just me?"

"I smell it bro!" Jasper agreed, laughing.

Emmett let out a large guffaw. "Of course, you do man. Eddie, you smellin' this?" And, although this metaphor had gotten way out of hand, I knew it would end until I agreed.

"I smell it."

Emmett grinned wide. "Bells?"

She nodded her head quietly flustered and said, "I am also smelling this thing that all three of you are smelling as well."Jasper and Emmett burst out laughing at that.

I looked over at Bella and notice she won't make eye contact with me. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." She said confidently. "We done here?"

"We just have to sing it through a couple more times. Just to make sure it's perfect."

She bit her lip again and I rushed out, "Um, we can do it separately though, actually."

"Oh good," She let out a huge sigh. "That's good."

It turned out that my producer loved it. He said it was different than anything else we've recorded and that it was worth the three month wait. All that jazz. He loved the idea that Isabella Swan recorded the duet with me, especially since she was such a huge star right now. He was pretty much jumping for joy by the time he got ready to leave, murmuring about all the people he had to call.

After the producer left, Bella called me into the sound booth. She crossed her arms, licked her lips, and all the color was drained from her face.

She licked her lips again, "That song –"

"Written years ago." I interrupted, throwing my hands up in defense. "It didn't really fit on any of our other albums so I saved it until it could be used."

She stared me straight in the eyes. I added, "I swear,"

Finally, she nodded and released her arms. "Okay." She shook her head and smiled. "Okay, good." She gave me a pat on the arm, muttered something about a breakfast meeting and flew out the door.

I finally plopped down on the couch to distress from my totally stressful, nerve-wracking, anxiety attack-causing day, only to be interrupted by Emmett and Jasper. I had my hands over my face but I could still feel them watching me.

"What?" I knew instantly that in just a few moments I was going to become extremely annoyed.

Jasper waved his hands around. "What was that? The you – and the Bella? And the – "

"Nothing," I quickly told him, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans. I picked up someone's Red Bull and began drinking from it. "We were just feeling the music."

"Need I remind you of what happened when you _felt_ the music with Tanya?"

I dropped the Red Bull from my lips. They knew that was an unspeakable topic. "Not funny."

Jasper, completely serious, replied. "Not laughing."

Yeah, well, neither was I.

.

_"Edward!" She was trailing behind screeching, throwing anything and everything she could get her hands on. "Edward, do _not_ walk out on me!" _

_I whipped around suddenly and stared her deep in the eyes. I gathered up all the hatred and anger I felt at the moment and said darkly, "You bitch! You _manipulative_ slutty bitch!" _

_She stopped dead in her tracks and hurt flashed all over her face. The pillow in her hand fell to the floor. "You don't mean that." _

_"I do." I nodded. "I really do." _

_Her eyes filled with tears and she began shaking. "You don't understand. You have no _idea_ what I've been through today." _

_"You're right. I'm sure it takes a lot of energy to be a whore. There's probably a lot of preparation that goes into -" She slapped me right across the face. Hard. My face was stinging and it took everything in my power to calm down and not retaliate. _She's a girl. She's a girl. She's a girl._ I turned quickly on my heel and marched toward the door. _

_"You don't get to be angry." I heard her trailing behind me. "Do you hear me? You don't get to be angry! I get to be angry." _

_I turned my face to the side so I could see her in my peripherals. "Honestly, you have the most fucked up logic out of anyone in the entire world." I could feel myself starting to tear up and I sniffled. "But, I don't even care anymore. I honestly don't." I walked out and slammed the door behind me. _

* * *

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_**Angie :) **_


	2. Parties, Lying, and Jimmy Fallon

**Hey guys! So, I'm still looking for a beta. Let me know if you're interested. **

**Check out my blog for teasers: angieferrarifanfics. blogspot. com**

**So, I have to disclaim a lot of things today: I do not own Twilight, _Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop_ by Landon Pigg, the song _Dancing on a Tight Rope_ by I The Mighty, _Star_ Magazine or Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. I am simply just playing with them for funzies. **

* * *

A couple months after we recorded that song…

"I can't even breathe. It's like… like my throat is closing up or something." Emmett cupped both hands around his neck, making choking noises. "Ack. Ack. Ack."

"Cut the shit, Em. You're freaking me the fuck out."

Our album had been out for a week and earlier this week we had also released the single _Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop_. Our manager, Carlisle Cullen, was faxing over this week's sales and we were nervous as shit. The album, which we ended up naming _Dancing on a Tightrope_ after one of our other singles on the album which (incidentally) I sang lead on, had been doing well so far, but sales always go down after the first couple of days.

Jasper is standing next to Emmett around the fax machine jumping up and down, looking like he is getting ready to run a freaking 400 meter relay. The fact that we even had a fax machine was something that I believed required definite attention and I still had no clue why he was faxing us the news, instead of just calling or texting us the news. He was definitely trying to add to the drama of the situation, which he was perfect at because he was the definition of a Drama King. And, it was working. We were all nervous as hell. My fingernails were jagged and were starting to bleed. I had not spoken to Bella since we recorded the single several weeks ago. I wondered what her people thought about her recording a song, however indie and out of character for my band it might be, with a rock band. Then, I decided that I didn't care.

And then it beeped. Slowly, paper started coming out of it.

Jasper whispered out, "Holy shit."

Emmett started anxiously pulling at the paper. When it didn't give, he said dejected and wide-eyed. "It won't come out. Now, we'll never _ever_ know."

I smacked him in the back of the head. "Wait for it print." And since I am slowly becoming a better person no, I did _not_ mutter "dumbass" under my breath to emphasize my point. Finally it finished printing and I yanked it out.

"What does it say? What does it say?" At the same time Emmett asked, "Did we make the top ten? Did we make the top twenty?"

I scanned the paper quickly, looked up at them in shock, looked back down, and gasped out, "We went platinum." They looked back at me in disbelief. "We went platinum in one week." I licked my lips and screamed, "Our album debuted at number 3 and _Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop_ is number four on the billboard charts and number 2 on iTunes."

Jasper whispered again, "Holy shit!"

I looked back up at them and their mouths were dropped. And then, we're all screaming like a bunch of girls, jumping up and down, and slapping each other's arms.

Our producer, Felix, phoned fifteen minutes later congratulating us, freaking out almost at the same level as we were. He told us he was throwing us a huge party at his flat tonight and that we totally deserved it – something about how he was inviting _everybody_ and that anybody who was anybody was going to be there. But, it was extremely hard to hear him over the on-going screaming that Emmett and Jasper were still partaking in and talking on the phone while trying to dodge Emmett's whip cream celebration-squirting is a really difficult task.

.

"That was exhausting!" Jasper plopped into our hand chair and swiveled around. "Where's Em?"

I didn't know. Jasper and I had left around 3 in the morning – from one of the best parties we had ever been to. Carlisle had annoyingly pushed us out of the door, telling us not to mess up our "bed time schedules" because we had a Late Night show taping around 4pm with Jimmy Fallon and we were not to look tired.

"I don't know. Saw him hooking up with this girl around 2." MY answer was somewhat muffled from the cushions on the couch.

Jasper responded with a snicker. "Nice."

I closed my eyes and quickly drifted to sleep.

.

We arrive on the set of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon around 3:15 p.m. As soon as we walked into the holding room, our stylist (Jessica Stanley) pounced.

"You're late!" She screamed at us. She immediately started messing with my hair. "And I haven't even dressed you yet." Annoyingly, she was talking mostly to me, not because she believed I was the leader of the band and deserved the most attention, but most likely because she thought I needed the most help.

I rolled my eyes. "Jessica, _please_. I look fine." She tore off the shirt I was wearing, slid a different one over my head and topped it with a black sports coat. I looked in the mirror and noticed she had dressed me in a very sick Def Leppard T-shirt and was holding out to me my lucky shark-tooth necklace. I snatched the necklace, put it on and said, "Okay. _Now_ I look fine."

She smirked at me, ruffled my hair and winked at me. "Of course, you do, hot stuff. Have I ever led you astray?"

I rolled my eyes playfully and threw her my crooked grin. "Where would I be without you, Jess?"

"Dead. Somewhere in a ditch. Screaming my name in agony."

"Now, come on, Jess," I sipped at my drink. "You know I don't have to be in agony to be screaming your name."

She blushed hard but didn't respond. Jasper shot me a hard look and I rolled my eyes and waved him off. I knew what he was thinking. _Don't sleep with her_. I wasn't going to. I knew she liked me and although I was definitely willing to sleep with her, I knew for me it would never be more than that. However, I wished the guys had more faith in me. It's not like I set out to cause awkward situations for us. I just liked flirting with her and getting her all worked up. Then again that is how the whole thing with Tanya started…

After she did my make-up, she started work on the other two. I plopped onto the couch and poured myself a drink that they had laying out for us. As Jess was painting up Jasper's face she asked, "Where's the girl?"

Really.

Emmett looked at her strangely. He was still really bummed about it. It was a sore spot with him. "Aw, come on, Jess, you know Tanya quit." Everyone knew that Tanya quit the band. She hadn't exactly released a statement about her relationship with the band at the current moment; however, when she was asked by TMZ paparazzi she replied _"Fuck Breaking Dawn"._ And that kind of made it clear to everyone.

Jessica clicked her tongue three times. "No, no, no. The other girl. The movie star."

We all looked at each other and Jasper asked confusedly, "Isabella Swan?"

Her face lit up. "Yes! Oh, I loved her when she played Pammy in _The Make Up_. It was pure gold. Instant classic. Especially the part where she was all _'We can't be apart. If you leave me, I will never be the same.' _Oh. My. Gawd. I was bawling." I looked over at Emmett and rolled my eyes and he held back a laugh. "Hmm, I guess what they say about movie stars being fashionably late all the time is true. Regardless, she needs to be here in less than," She looked at her watch. "An hour, really." She looked up and saw us all staring at her like she had lost her mind.

"Bell-" I coughed. "_Isabella_ is not in the band, Jessica."

Her face fell, confused and then she laughed. "That's not what I read in _Star_ today."

"What are you talking about?" My eyes narrowed because first of all, she should know better than to believe anything that came out of those tabloids and secondly because I had no idea what the fuck she was talking about. I held out my hand to her. Jessica always carried around magazines. She claimed it helped her to know what was in or not (blahblahblah).

She pulled out a stack of magazines from her bag and shoved them at me and moved on to applying Emmett's make-up.

I flipped through the magazines, quickly reading their covers.

**Why **_**do**_** Good Girls like Bad Boys?**

**Tanya Denali: Replaced!**

**Movie Star Turned Rock Star**

**Engaged!**

Oh, shit!

And what's worse is that there are legitimate pictures of Bella walking into the recording studio in the early hours of the night and me holding the door open for her, smirking (who knows why).

First thing that enters my mind:

Oh hell, I wish we'd never recorded that song together. I'm never going to get away from this girl. And, why the hell were the papa-freaking-razzi out that early? It was like five in the morning. Now they think she's, like, my next (to put it nicely) _conquest_.

The second thing that entered my mind:

Double hell. Bella is _not_ in my band! Oh, my God, I can already hear her freaking about this. Or maybe she wasn't. I mean, both of us could handle this maturely. We have both been victims to the evilness of media before; however, mine usually boosted my rep.

This was all Jasper's fault. With that thought, I shoved them all into Jasper's chest.

"What the hell?" I screamed at him. He quickly glanced at them. Jasper's eyes grew in comprehension. He was shaking his head in disbelief. Jasper knew why I hated her. He knew that recording that song with her a couple of months ago was one of the hardest things I'd ever done. He knew that I did not want to have anything to do with her anymore. I could feel myself getting emotional. "You said it would just be once. That I wouldn't have to talk about her or to her ever again."

"I'm sorry, Ed." He licked his lips and flipped through one of the magazines. "This blew up bigger than I thought."

"You don't think they're expecting her here do you?" I asked. "I mean, Carlisle would have said something right?"

Jasper clenched his teeth together. He was never one to lie. "I don't know, man. That song is _really_ popular right now."

Because our lives suck and we have the worst luck ever, as I was glaring daggers at Jasper for potentially ruining my life again Jimmy Fallon walked in to meet us. We quickly straightened up and held out our hands to shake his.

"Hey boys! Oh, god, I'm so excited to have you on the show."

Words are exchanged – nothing of extreme importance, so I'm just going to skip to the part that had me knowing for sure that Emmett and Jasper had ruined the rest of my life.

"So," Jimmy looked around. "Where's Miss Swan?"

We stared at him blankly for like twenty seconds when suddenly Carlisle comes out of nowhere and goes, "Oh, she'll be here in a few." Our heads whipped around at him, because… What?

"Oh, okay. Good. I love that girl." He laughed slightly. "I'll see you all in a few." He walked away and I punched Carlisle's shoulder.

He cried out in pain. "OUCH! What the hell?"

"That's what I'm wondering!"

And then Jasper punched him. "Why the _hell'd_ you tell him Bella would be here? She is _not_ in the band."

"No. Not technically." He said cringing, expecting another hit from Emmett – but he wasn't paying any attention. "Listen, you have one song on your album that includes Isabella Swan and suddenly your popularity has more than tripled in a week. A week!" He looked at us excitedly. "All because Isabella Swan is on your album. On _one_ song. She doesn't have to be in your band. Just a couple of promo trips, maybe she'd go on tour with your guys, and then we drop Isabella like we dropped Tanya."

Emmett scrunched up his face. "Hey, we didn't drop –"

Carlisle held up his hand. "That is not the story, okay?"

I pushed his hand down and glared at him. "And, how exactly were you going to get Bella to come here?"

He smiled devilishly at me. "That's where you come in." And then he added sarcastically, "_Bad boy_."

"I…" I stammered, trying to think of a way out of this. Curse my staggerdly-good looks and my bad boy player image. "Your plan is seriously flawed. Bella hates me."

His smile faltered. "She can't hate you. Not if she was willing to do you a favor and sing for you."

Emmett and Jasper looked at each other and burst into fits of laughter. I looked at them and back at Carlisle. "They're right. Bella despises me." I breathe out. "And the feeling is mutual."

Carlisle stared at me with hard eyes. "Despite or no despite. Isabella Swan is the biggest thing since sliced bread right now. They want Isabella Swan." He looked at his watch. "And they want Isabella Swan in less than 45 minutes. So, you decide what you're going to do. And, I'm not going to sit here and pretend I care about whatever went down with you and Miss Swan years ago." He shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "But, it's your career. I'm just handing it to you on a silver platter. Do whatever the hell you want with it though."

And then he walked out.

Drama. King.

I wanted to cry and I hadn't cried in years. This wasn't fair. Not only was I being forced to link myself with someone I hated, I owed the success of my new album to her and I wasn't sure if I liked the idea that we were being judged more so on the popularity of our band members rather than the merit of the songs we put out.

I could feel the boys staring at me as I shook my head back and forth. "I do _not_ want to be tied to her."

"I know."

"She's a bitch."

They didn't respond but they didn't necessarily disagree either.

"Guys, I don't think – I don't think that our future depends on her." They responded with silence so I continued, "I think that we could go out there on our own, that they would accept it, that they would love it and that…" I trailed off.

Finally, after two minutes of them not saying anything I looked up and saw them staring at me with their eyebrows raised.

"What?"

Emmett glared. "You know what?"

"I do not know what." I demanded. "That is why I'm asking you."

"You do _so_ know what. Because if you didn't know what, we wouldn't be putting the future of our _career_ in your hands right now, Edward. So," He handed me my cell phone. "Grow some balls and call her. This is just business."

And then they walked away. Why does everyone walk away and leave me with the hard stuff? And, when did everyone become so dramatic?

This is business. This is business. I continued the mantra until I had convinced myself that calling her was the best thing for my band.

So, I dial the number and the first thing I hear is…

"Edward Cullen, you jackass!"

I smirked. "Added me to your contacts, I see. I knew you liked me."

"I am going to kill you. And then bring you back to life so that I can kill you again. And I will repeat that process until I am fully satisfied!" I could just tell her face was beat red and her eyes were shooting fire.

I cringed. "I'm guessing you read the tabloids."

This is where her voice got all screechy and high pitched. "You know? Something told me not to help you that night. I swear, in the back of mind something was screaming at me, yelling even, 'Don't do it, Bella! Whenever you screw around with Edward, _literally and figuratively, mind you_, you always get hurt, Bella. It is never a good thing. Something bad _will_ happen!' But did I listen? No." She hadn't taken a breath yet. "There's freaking magazines _everywhere_ about us dating, Edward. And about me being in your fucking, stupid, little band. I just... Ugh! This is not what you said it would be."

She was breathing heavily and I waited. I waited because I knew if tried to talk now, nothing good would happen.

I finally heard her sigh and I spoke up, "You done?"

"Yes,"

"I'm sorry," I run a hand through my hair. "This crap wasn't supposed to happen. But, I… for lack of better word – play the field. So, they think you're my next… conquest or whatever."

"I'm aware." She said angrily. "I read the article."

I continued, "But the one about us being engaged, don't even fret it. It's a total nobody magazine anyway."

She gasps and then squeaks, "There's one about us being engaged?"

I clenched my teeth together and rolled my eyes at myself. "No,"

"Edward!"

"Let me make it up to you."

"I don't see how you could!" She whispered. And then after five silent seconds she adds, "But, how would you try?"

I smiled. "The boys and I were hanging out tonight and thought it'd be real cool to go check out that late night show. You know the one with Jimmy Fallon? You should come. Like… right now."

"Jimmy? Oh, I've been on his show. He's hilarious."

I said, "Yeah, hysterical. So, you comin' or what?"

I heard her sigh loudly. "I mean, I don't know. Hanging out with you isn't like the best option right now. Not if we want the papz to die down, which we do. Mike's already feeling insecure."

I didn't care who the hell Mike was, but because I needed something major from her I asked politely, "Is Mike your boyfriend?"

She paused. "We're dating. Or… well… we've been on _a_ date. I just don't want him to get the wrong idea about me."

I rolled my eyes. When did she become so obsessed with image?

"You're probably right." I let that sit for a few seconds. "Coming could just make the whole situation worse."

"Well, maybe I'll just drop by for a little bit. I mean, I haven't seen Jimmy in forever. And, I miss Em and Jas." Not me apparently.

"Err, I don't know. Maybe you're right. We should probably let this whole thing blow over. Yeah, on second thought. Don't come. Forget I mentioned it. I don't want you out here ruining my reputation."

"What?" She screeched.

Checkmate.

She continued screeching, "Are you telling me what to do? Who the hell do you think you are, Edward Cullen? You don't own me! I am coming whether you like it or not."

"_Fine_, woman! Be here in half an hour."

"Oh, I'll do better than that." She spat. "I'll be there in fifteen."

"Fine!" I spat back.

Her voice got louder. "Fine!"

I added quickly, "Oh, and try not to wear anything ugly. I know you used to have an affinity for loving ugly clothes and I'm pretty sure I saw you on Joan River's worst dressed list last week."

"Shut up! You did not!" And she hung up.

I am a god. Seriously, I should get an Oscar for that performance.

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	3. Arguing, Arguing, and More Arguing

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"You're late." I said to Bella as I ushered her in though the back door.

She rolled her eyes and switched her Chanel bag from one arm to the other. "Well, I had to change because of my apparent affinity for ugly people clothes."

I snarled at her and opened my mouth to retaliate but she held her hand up and we stopped walking.

"Actually, I don't want to fight with you." She placed the hand she held out on my upper arm. "I'm really glad you're trying to be the bigger person here and look over our differences that we had in the past."

I shrugged her off my arm. She gave me a quick hard look. "Um, you might want to save this little heart to heart 'till the end of the show, seeing as how in about less than 5 minutes you're going to hate me more than you ever have."

"I don't think that's possible," She joked. When I said nothing, her face began to fall. She looked around quickly in confusion and backed away from me slowly. She swallowed thickly. "Are you setting me up for something? What's going on?"

"Look, I'm not happy about this either. Like, at all." I looked over at her seriously and she still has no clue what the fuck is going on. She stared back angrily and crossed her arms across her chest. "But, this is my career. And suddenly that involves you."

She bristled, the wheels turning in her head.

"Everything we've gotten, we have earned. We have worked extremely hard for our career. And then we get this awesome news about our album doing extremely well as is our single and we're stoked. We're getting invited to Jimmy Fallon's show. I mean, come on. And, we're excited because we're on the fast track now. What we want is within reach. We can taste it." I can see her getting restless, waiting for me to get to my point. "Then we find out that Jimmy Fallon doesn't want _us_. He doesn't just want Breaking Dawn. He wants _Isabella Swan_ and Breaking Dawn." I snarled as I said her name.

She swallowed thickly and her eyes softened. "It's not my fault that –" She stopped, calmed herself and quietly said, "I can't just drop everything and join your stupid band, Edward. In fact, that's actually one of the last things I plan to do today. So, -"

I continued fiercely, "Everything we've earned goes to shit. We didn't earn this success, Miss Swan. You gave it to us." I scowled at her. "So, I'm going to be selfish right now. I'm going to tell you that I need you to come on this show. I don't want you to join the band. Heavens, no. Just the show. You owe me and – "

"_Shut up,"_ She spat. "Just… Shut. Up." She paced in front of me for a minute, biting her nails. I watched as she deliberated over what to do. Her face flushed with anger. Finally, she stopped right in front of me and pointed in my face. "If I do this for you – if I come on this show with you guys tonight, that's it. That "I owe you" shit is done. You can't use it anymore. We are officially even."

I stared at her coldly, the blood boiling all throughout my body. My hands started shaking as I roared, "We will _never_ be even! You will _always_ be the bad guy here. What you did was _so_ unforgivable! You will never stop owing me for that day!"

"_You think I don't know that!"_ She was pulling at her hair and she ripped her hands out to punch her fists against my chest. "You think there's a day that goes by where I don't feel like shit for what happened! Where I don't _physically_ get sick because of it!" I grabbed her hands to throw her off of me but she kept fighting me. "You have no idea what I went through, Edward. No _clue_ what happened."

"Yes, I'm sure it was very hard for you."

Her eyes flamed and if it were possible steam would be pouring out of her ears at an incredibly rate. And then suddenly her eyes were sad. Tears filled them as all the anger in her body was replaced with sorrow.

She yanked her hands free and stared at me with her sad eyes. She shook her head and whispered, "You are an asshole, Edward Cullen." She stared at him as if she had no idea who he was.

I nodded curtly. "Well, you're a bitch." She recoiled from the memory. "We're quite the pair, aren't we?" She licked her lips and wiped at her face, patting softly under her eyes.

I realized that this conversation had really gone in the opposite direction of where I wanted it to go if I had wanted any inkling of hope that she would do the show for us tonight. I frowned at the thought.

From behind us we hear a quick clearing of a voice. We turned to see Carlisle, shaking his head.

"I hate to interrupt your _very public_ argument, but the show starts in five minutes."

Bella nodded and shook her arms. "Bleh!" She shook her head again and suddenly she was wearing the brightest smile I'd ever seen. She continued in a cheery voice, "I'm sorry about that Carlisle. Oh, it's so good to see you!" She gave him a big, tight hug while Carlisle stood there a little stunned. "Where's their Make-Up artist? My, uh, my mascara is acting up." He pointed to the room we were held in earlier and she skittered off.

I put my face in my hands and leaned against the wall.

"Edward,"

"No, Carlisle," My voice was muffled by my palms.

"Edward, you really need to learn to let things go. She's… she's trying. And, maybe-"

"Don't take her side, Carlisle."

"I'm not taking sides." He said. That didn't make it any better. He should be choosing my side. "I'm just saying maybe you don't understand all that went down that day."

There was something about his tone of voice, a sharpness that rang within it, that caused my head to shoot up.

"Do you know something you're not telling me?"

He placed a heavy hand on my shoulder, sighed and walked away.

I am so _sick_ of his walking away bullshit.

.

"_Hmm," She hummed. We were in our meadow. She was lying with her head in my lap and I was perched up, watching her create some type of flower headband thing. "How 'bout Paris? I've always loved Paris." _

"_Paris is a bit out of my price range at the current moment." I smiled down at her. I loved her spirit and her huge sometimes-unrealistic dreams. _

"_Well, how about Lyon?" _

_I pulled a piece of hair out her face. "That sounds nice. Where's that?" _

_Her eyes sparkled. "A city right outside of Paris." _

_I laughed as I quickly kneaded my fingers into her sides. She burst into fits of laughter. _

"_Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. _Okay_." She twisted and rolled on top of me. She placed her arm on my chest and leaned her chin against it. She smiled down at me and said in a British accent, "Well, what pray tell do you suggest, kind sir?" I smiled. She loved speaking in accents. She was playful like that. _

_I palmed her face with my right hand and brushed her cheek with my thumb. "I was thinking more along the lines of Portland, Oregon." _

_She made a face. "Yuck. I don't want to get married in Portland, Oregon." _

"_Well, it's better than Forks, Washington." _

"_Only slightly." She mumbled. She got that sad look in her eyes that she had been getting for days. I rubbed my hand down her arm and across her flat stomach. _

_I frowned. "We don't have to get married you know. It's not like a law or anything." _

"_I know," She agreed, brought her flower hat thingy up to my chest and continued braiding. She frowned slightly as she thought to herself. _

"_Besides," I said. "I don't want to have to get married like this. I want to wait a couple years –" _

"_Years?" She shrieked. She almost looked offended._

"_Yes, years." I said firmly. Authoritatively. "We're young. We're not ready yet. We need to grow individually before we can grow as a couple."_

_She thought about for a moment nodded and demanded, "Continue."_

_I smiled widely. "I'd propose to you publicly –" _

"_Publicly?" _

"_Of course!" I joked, laughing at her incessant need to interrupt me. Her cheeks turned red in her excitement. "I'll embarrass you in front of all your friends and family with a big speech about how you're the only girl for me yaddah yaddah and I'll have a huge, beautiful ring –" _

_Her eyes sparkled again as she got that look in her eyes that meant she was dreaming big. "Three carats?" _

_I smiled mock-angrily, "At least!" _

_She grinned. _

"_And, we'll get married in a city like Paris or Lyon because I'll be able to afford it and I only want the best for my girl." _

"_Your girl, huh?" She bit her lip as she awaited my response. _

_I looked deeply into her eyes, knowing this was important for her. "Always." I rubbed my thumb across her cheek. "I'm sorry I was such an asshole before. I don't know what I was thinking." _

_She grabbed my face and melted her lips against my own. She swept her tongue into my mouth and kissed me more deeply than she ever had before. When she came up for air, I was panting. _

_I laughed lightly, "What was that for?" _

_She looked down at me, her hands threaded into my wild hair. _

"_I love you so much, Edward Cullen." _

_I smiled; smiling was a constant theme in my life lately. "Bella Swan," She looked at me expectantly. "You are my life now." _

_She giggled, reached down and placed her flower-braid-hairband-thingy on top of my head. "I made you something." _

"_Well, if you made it, I'll love it." I winked at her. _

_She patted my cheek and laid her on my chest. "You're too good to me." _

"_Likewise, Miss Swan." _

.

We were standing to stage left waiting for Jimmy's monologue to end so that we would be introduced. Carlisle had already given us the speech about making sure to dodge questions about Bella joining the band and our relationship status. Emmett was cracking jokes, sensing the uneasy tension and doing everything he could to make things enjoyable.

"Oh, Bella, what would we do without you?" He smiled as he grabbed her from behind and lifted her a few feet off the ground.

"I'm sure you'd be just fine." Her eyes still taking on some of the sadness it had from earlier, but she still had on the smile she had plastered on when Carlisle interrupted us. Emmett whipped out his phone taking a picture of him and Bella, muttering something about posting it on his instagram with a caption that said "Taping Jimmy Fallon, Bitches!" Our fans tend to think he's hilarious.

"No, Bells, this is major." Jasper cut in, texting away on his iPhone. "You're saving our asses, right now." I rolled my eyes. "Anything we can do for you, you just name it and it's yours."

Emmett added, "Seriously. If you need us to star in one of your films, or do a quick cameo, or have sex with one of your super hot friends… I will not hesitate to help you."

She giggled as Emmett tickled her sides. "Hmm, well, I'll have to think hard on that one then." She reached behind her and started attacking Emmett's sides and he boomed out a giant laugh. Jasper gave him a quick shush, with a finger to his lips. A man with an earpiece walked over and gave us a hard look. Emmett apologized and we silently laughed at him. He walked away muttering, "Musicians."

Bella, smiling, said, "Actually, there is one thing you guys can do." She looked at all three of us individually. "Isabella Swan is the name that I go by now. I don't like to think much about the past. I'm a different person now." I rolled my eyes. I wonder why that is. "So, if you guys could not –"

Jasper let out a quick laugh and smiled at her knowingly. "Don't worry about it, _Isabella_." He threw an arm across her shoulders. "We got you."

She smiled warmly at them and turned her gaze at me. "Edward?"

"Whatever," I shrugged and turned my attention toward Jimmy on stage. I wasn't too happy about the guys getting so chummy with Bella again. They needed to pick whose side they were going to be on and they needed to decide quick.

Emmett and Jasper went back to joking and texting and I watched Bella out of the corner of my eye. She was wringing her hands. She actually looked nervous, as if she had not done this millions of times in her career already. I felt myself getting angry. She was an actress! She better not go on this show and make us look like complete fools.

I turned to her. "Maybe you should try smiling."

Without even looking my way, and without missing a beat, she spoke harshly, "Maybe you should try never speaking to me again."

Emmett and Jasper froze at the callousness in her tone and looked over at me. Jasper mouthed at me "What did you do?" I shrugged and turned back toward the stage. He was about to call us on.

.

"God, guys. I can't thank you guys enough for coming out here tonight! You guys are all anybody's talking about lately." Jimmy stated as we took our seats. I sat down on the couch first in the seat nearest Jimmy's desk; Jasper took the seat next to me, then Bella and then Emmett.

"Jimmy, we're excited to be here, man." I said coolly and smiled at the audience. With that, the audience went crazy with screaming. I was used to the females screaming at me. It had become customary throughout our lifestyles.

"Animals. Their animals, I swear!" Jimmy joked. He looked over at Bella. "Looks like you might have some competition their, Isabella."

She gave a quick fake laugh.

"So," Jimmy holds up a copy of our album against his desk. "Your album is currently number 3 on Billboard and on iTunes right now. How stoked are you?"

Emmett laughed lightly, "We're pretty stoked. This is a huge deal for us. I keep waiting to wake up and this to have all been some kind of crazy dream."

Jimmy placed the CD in some box under his desk and said, "Okay, so moment of truth guys. Tanya Denali. What's up? She still in the band?"

Jasper sighed and answered, "Uh, no. At the current moment Tanya is no longer part of Breaking Dawn… unfortunately."

The crowd "aww'd" and Jimmy nodded. "What happened?"

The boys looked at me. Inwardly, I rolled my eyes. "Uh, let's just say if this was a divorce we would have filed under irreconcilable differences."

Jimmy and the crowd laughed. "How pleasantly vague of you." I threw him a smile and gave him a playful look. "Okay, okay, okay. Isabella, tell us how you wound up singing a song for a rock band."

"Ugh, Jimmy, it's a crazy story actually." Her smile was infectious. "I got a call from these nimrods at like 5 o'clock in the morning, screaming about how they need help on this song and it's gotta be done at nine and they needed someone who they knew could sing. So, I thought I'd give it a try."

Jimmy laughed. "It was a pretty good try. I had no idea you sang. You sounded amazing! Didn't she sound amazing?"

The crowd clapped for Bella and she blushed. "Thank you, Jimmy. First and foremost, I am an actress though. I just did this for the guys."

"So, rumor mill time." Jimmy prodded. "Are you and Edward, here, in a relationship?"

She smiled and looked at me to answer the question. I pursed my lips looking for something to say. "You know, Bella and I just have a lot of chemistry and that was definitely reflected through the song."

Bella gave me a sharp look and I frowned. I thought I'd answered that pretty well.

"Bella?" Jimmy questioned. "Is that like a pet name you call her?"

I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth. I mouthed a quick 'sorry' to Bella but she was already answering the question.

"No, that was my old nickname in high school. That's where I know these knuckleheads from."

"No way! What a small world." Jimmy exclaimed. "So, are you replacing Tanya? You the new member of the band?"

Emmett jumped in. "It actually wasn't her first time singing with the band. She was in our band back in the day in high school."

"Shut up. No way. So, you're an old member of the band." Jimmy looked perplexed. "What happened? This is crazy."

Bella made her face look indignant and let out a laugh. "They kicked me out!"

Jimmy burst out laughing. Emmett and Jasper joined him. "What? Why?"

I smiled and said slyly, "We didn't kick her out, per se."

"Yeah, we were just looking to take the band in a different direction." Jasper added.

"Right." Emmett joked, throwing his hands up in the air. "She just wasn't what we were _feeling_ at that exact moment."

Bella laughed and said, "They sat me down and told me they wanted more of a "man's band" and being female I was messing up their vibe. Then they went got a new chick lead singer!"

We all laughed. Finally, I looked over at Jimmy and said plainly, "She was bossy."

"Ah," Jimmy nodded. The boys laughed, nodding.

"She was like a Nazi." Emmett joked.

"A singing Nazi, that is." I added.

"Hey!" Bella hit me from across the couch.

"A very cute, singing Nazi." I said to ease the sting a little.

Bella scrunched up her face in mock indignation again. "This is all bullshit, Jimmy. Do you hear the way they talk to me?"

Jimmy continued laughing as did the crowd and I cracked a smile. "Oh, God. I wish we had more time. You guys are hilarious together."

"Thank you, we try." Jasper said slowly.

"Isabella Swan and Breaking Dawn, everybody. Dancing on a Tightrope: in stores now. Go buy yourself a copy! We'll be right back after this." Jimmy said, sending off the show.

.

"There might be a couple promo trips, performing the song on a couple TV shows, award shows, you know, things like that. You could maybe even go on tour with the boys and sing Tanya's part in the other songs. Also, we have –"

"Uh, Carlisle," Bella held up her hand and swung her purse on her shoulder. Her plastered-on smile had faded and she looked like at any moment she was about to break down. "I'm tired. Also, I can't just put my world on pause for you guys. I'm sorry. Especially not for someone who hates the very ground I walk on."

I bend down grab a beer out of the mini fridge and quip, "Hey now! I don't hate the _ground_ you walk on. The ground is a _very_ reliable substance."

She rolled her eyes and said to Carlisle, "Plus he's an asshole. I think I've had enough of _this_ Edward Cullen to last me a lifetime."

Jasper went to stand in front of her. "Bella, we need you. Look, are you filming right now?"

"No, but – "

"But, what?" Jasper exclaimed. He grabbed her hands. "Don't say no yet. Just think about it."

"Jas-"

"Shhhh!" He grabbed her lips closed with his fingers. "Don't answer yet. Just think about it. Think about how fun it would be. Hanging out with us on a tour bus. It's only a couple of months. Just mewl it over and we'll have Carlisle call your people okay?"

He let go of her lips and she pursed them. "Okay, I'll think about it."

I rolled my eyes and took another sip from my beer. "Hey, if you need any help deciding why don't you give good ole' Jacob Black a call? He's very good at helping people through tough times, I've heard."

Her eyes turned stoney and she swallowed. "Goodbye, guys. It was good seeing you again." She walked right past me and slammed the door on her way out.

I chugged the rest of my beer and looked up. They were all glaring at me.

"What? You guys didn't even consult me before asking her to become part of the band? Does my opinion even matter anymore?" In all actuality, I was extremely hurt by that. It was like they completely disregarded my feelings for her and made a collective decision I wasn't even part of.

It was like they were picking her side.

"Edward, that's not what we were trying to do."

"It doesn't matter, Carlisle." I said angrily, throwing my empty beer bottle onto the couch. I got up to grab another. "It doesn't matter what I think anymore apparently. Bella swooped in and saved the day and suddenly she's the best damn thing that's ever happened to this band."

They answered me with silence and inwardly I growled. I grabbed my jacket angrily and texted my driver that I was ready. I walked toward the door, stopped and turned toward them. They were all watching me.

"Look, guys. All I've got to say is this. If Bella becomes the new Tanya, you might also want to start looking for a new Edward as well."

"Edward," Jasper sighed, resting his head against the wall in defeat, probably thinking to himself that I was being overdramatic. Emmett just stood there with his arms crossed looking pissed.

"No, I'm serious." I opened the door and said with my back turned. "I don't want this."

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	4. Drinking, Carlisle, and Tanya Denali

**Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to post! I wanted to give out a big thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter. Hope you enjoyed your teasers, i didn't put it on the blog this week. **

**Blah, blah, blah. That's enough of the a/n. Without further ado... **

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I hadn't talked to anyone in about four days. I was pissed. More than pissed, I was furious. Angry that no one was taking my side or understanding how ridiculous it was. Furious that they were willing to put my feelings aside for the good of the band. Pissed that I cared so much about the band. I loved our band as much as the next guy but if suddenly that included Isabella Swan… I did not know exactly how I felt about that.

Avoiding Emmett and Jasper is harder than it looks seeing as how we all live in the same loft. I'm twenty-eight fucking years old and I live in an apartment with three dudes. Granted it is the sweetest fucking apartment in the entire world, but seriously. A guy's gotta be able to get away sometimes. I ended up renting a hotel and basically drinking myself into a drunken stupor for four days straight. At about noon on the fourth day there was a knock on the door. Seeing as how no one knew I was here, I assumed it was house cleaning and yelled out that I didn't want to be disturbed. The knocking continued and finally I got up to open it. I opened it up to see that it was Carlisle. He stood there with this angry growl on his face and his arms crossed ready for battle.

"You prick!" He marched passed me and slammed the door shut. This look on his face was furious and he looked seriously concerned. He also looked like he wanted to kill me. "You know how long it took me to find you? I thought you might've died or something. I almost called mom."

I laughed sarcastically and flounced down onto the queen-sized bed. "Don't try to pull the concerned brother act now, _Carly_. I know what's important to you." Apparently, by the way I was slurring my words, I was still a little drunk.

His eyes flashed with hurt and his jaw set. "The band is only important to me 'cause it's important to you. If I hadn't made it my top priority, you wouldn't be where you are today. I thought you appreciated what I've done."

I rolled my eyes. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

Carlisle is my half-brother. He was my father's kid before he married my mother and he's about seven years older than me. We had always been really close. When we started to make it big, there was only one person I wanted to represent us and to manage our band. Carlisle. He was fierce. He was stern. He was compassionate. And, I knew he'd be great at it.

I sighed and closed my eyes. "Just leave me alone, Carlisle."

"Edward," He said so authoritatively I looked up quickly. When the hell did he think he became my father? He sighed and all the anger he seemed to harbor left him as quickly as it came. He came over to the bed. "Scoot over." I scooted over and he sat down on the bed and leaned his back against the headboard. "Edward, you're always my brother first. And, I'm sorry if I forgot that."

I waited for the "but" but it never came. I looked over at him and he was staring straight ahead. His face looked like he was battling with something.

"Okay, I'm ready." I let out a huge breath, setting down the basically empty beer bottle I had grabbed. "Tell me what I need to hear."

"Isabella Swan could be the best thing that ever happened to your band." He stated, his manager voice back in full force. I "She's popular, she can sing, and she has just enough edge so that men will respect her as well as want to sleep with her, which is good if you want to appeal to a broad audience. It also doesn't hurt that she's drop-dead gorgeous." I winced. I didn't need him telling me how gorgeous she was. I had eyes, didn't I? "Her chemistry with the band is contagious. After the interview with Fallon, people are in love with the idea of you four. Together you're magic."

I nodded my head, trying to be as professional as possible, trying to keep this as much about business as I could, trying everything to be a man and not cry like a PMSing chick.

Carlisle grabbed my shoulder and I could see the shift over from manager to brother in his expression. "I _know_ you have history. I _know_ she hurt you in a way that can never be repaired. I know you've been feeling like we've been stabbing you in the back since this whole ordeal started_. I know_. But, right now you have to decide whether you can be professional about this or if it hurts too much that you just… can't."

Can't what? Be around her? Sing with her? Be in a band with her? Go on tour with her? I was one hundred percent sure that I did not want to do either of these things. But could I? Could I be professional about this? I didn't know. The only thing I was for sure of is that every time I saw her it felt like a thousand sharp knives were trying to fit into one hole of my body and missing terribly.

With that he got up from the bed and stated, "The boys have decided that it's your decision. They'd rather sell a couple less albums than lose you as a band mate. Think it over and let me know."

Oh, wonderful. They've left me with the single most hardest decision the band has ever had to make. Lovely. How sweet of them.

"You're saying this like it's a done deal. Did she call you?"

He shook his head. I couldn't imagine her wanting to be in the band, even if it was a temporary situation. She seemed to harbor just as much hate for me as I did for her… which I never understood.

I nodded and slumped back down onto the bed. When I didn't hear any movement signaling that Carlisle had left the room, I looked up and saw him standing there staring at me.

"You didn't think I was leaving you here to drink yourself to death, did you?" He raised an eyebrow. _Always the drama king._ "I'm kidnapping you the weekend. Esme's cooking your favorite!"

He grabbed my arm and yanked me off the bed.

"When are you gonna marry that girl?" I quipped.

He snarled at me. "Right around the time you get your own shit together."

Well, in that case, he may never get married.

.

I don't think I was supposed to know she was here. They (Carlisle and Bella) were having what looked like a meeting in his office. I had taken the long way to the kitchen to grab something to eat and heard them talking. It was seven o'clock in the morning and I usually wasn't up this early – that's how I know I wasn't supposed to know about it.

"I mewled it over with my agent yesterday and it just… I'm sorry but it doesn't seem like I'm going to be able to fit _touring with the band_ into my schedule." The way she said that was like a mix of serious business professional and snarling sarcastic woman. How she did it, I have no clue. She continued. "I got a call to be in this new movie and I've never really done a comedy before. I usually stray away from it. People tell me I'm not really funny. But, you know, I'm always willing to try something at least once. I mean, I'll at least read the script, right? That can't hurt. It's opposite Bradley Cooper and he's so – you know – amazing so… Also, my agent doesn't think being in a rock band and touring and all that comes along with that will be good for the image I'm trying to convey." She's babbling. It may have been ten years but I still know that she's a pretty confident and secure person. She only babbles when she's trying to come up with excuses.

She was going to turn it down. She was going to turn us down. She was going to turn _me_ down. What she was really trying to say is that she didn't want to be in _my_ band?

How dare she?

My eyes fueled with anger as I tried to keep my breathing under control.

"Bella," Carlisle said softly in his persuasion voice. "We need you. As a friend? For me? The tour is only a couple months. I think it could be good for your image. It would show some versatility. It's not like I'm asking you to tattoo your skin and dye your hair blue – "

"Which I would have said no to."

"Duly noted. Listen Bella, you can take this band to a place that we can't take it alone. We need you."

I hated that he was right. I hated that she was so important to the success of our band. Without her, we would be fine. We would find a new lead singer; we would sell records and be amazing. But with Isabella Swan, who knew the possibilities?

"I'm sorry, Carlisle." She paused and stated softly, "He hates me. Do you know how much it hurts to watch someone hate you? A lot. It hurts a lot." Her voice sounded teary. When she continued talking her voice sounded pathetic. "It's been ten years and I'm acting like it was yesterday." The sound of a chair scraping wood rung through the air and I know she has stood up. "I'm sorry, Carlisle, but I don't want to be where I'm not wanted."

A couple seconds later I watched her walk out of his office and pause when she noticed me leaning against the wall by the door. She nodded her head at me and walked toward the front door.

I guess the guys couldn't be mad at me for this one. This one was all on her. I was finally off the hook.

_._

_I was standing behind the most awkward, ridiculous, impossible, indecisive woman in the entire world. I was at Jay's Coffee Shop and I had to have been standing in the exact same spot for at least fifteen hours. First, she wanted an Iced Mocha but then she decided that the idea of cold coffee was weird and she didn't want to take part in that absurdity. Then, she __wanted a __Tall Nonfat caramel and honey 1/2 decaf 1/2 regular latte with a little whipped cream on top, but then she decided if she was going to get coffee she might as well not half ass it and get the real deal. Then, she decided she wanted a Caramel Frappuccino but then she decided that she didn't really like Caramel all that much. _

_At this point I was ready to pull my hair out. I screamed out in frustration, "For the love of all that is holy, just pick a goddamn coffee and get out of here!" _

_I saw her stiffen and whip around to me. The guy behind the counter's eyes widened and I realized it was because her eyes looked about ready to murder. As she glared me down I realized something. While although she was the most awkward, ridiculous, impossible, indecisive woman in the entire world, she was also absolutely the most gorgeous girl I had ever seen. _

"_Excuse me, jackass, last I checked there's no time limit for placing an order!" She spat at me, venom laced in her words. _

"_Well, after listening to you for the past year, I'm starting to think that's a mistake._

_She pursed her lips and said, "Listen… _boy_ – " _

"_Boy?" I laughed in disbelief. We had to have been the same age. _

"_- I am in no mood for your – " _

_I slapped down a twenty on the counter in front of her, interrupting her rant and went, "She'll have a Grande White Chocolate Mocha and I'll just have a hot chocolate." The man accepted my money and went to work ordering. _

_I looked back over at the girl in front of me. She had the most indignant look on her face. "You did not just order for me." _

_I pulled her to the side so we were out of the way of the rest of the customers waiting to give their order. _

"_Listen… girl," She scoffed at me. "There are a million of people trying to order coffee with millions of different places to go. They didn't have to time for you to decide what it is that you actually wanted. So, I decided for you. No need to thank me for paying for your coffee though, you can pay me back by keeping me company and drinking your coffee with me." _

_I grabbed our coffees from the man holding them out to us and walked to a table. By the time I sat down I noticed she was still standing where I left her with her mouth wide open. I wiggled her coffee at her and she finally came and sat down. _

_She folded her arms across her chest. "Just so you know, I'm not the kind of girl who gets pushed over and lets people decide things for her, okay? Okay? Especially, from jackasses like you. I am a strong, independent woman, not some damsel in distress that you can just push around." I nodded mock serious, smiled and handed her her drink. She finally acquiesced and accepted it. _

"_What's your name?" _

_She shook her head. "I don't think you deserve that information." _

_I laughed. I'd find a way to deserve that information. "So, _girl_, how old are you?" Strangely, I was curious about this girl's entire life history._

_She sipped from her drink and answered, "Seventeen." _

"_Me too. How come I've never seen you before?" I drank from my cup. "You go to Forks High?" _

"_Um," She put her cup down. "I will. I just moved here from Arizona to live with my dad." _

"_Hmm," I nodded, really extra interested in everything this girl had to say. "Who's your dad?" _

"_Charlie Swan," _

_My eyes widened quickly. "The police chief?" _

_She nodded. I hadn't known he had any children. _

_She muttered to herself, "I guess this really is a small town." _

_I laughed at her assessment. "I know. That's why I'm surprised I didn't hear of you." _

_She bit her lip. "It was a really last minute decision." She turned her face from me and started drinking her coffee. _

_Okay. So, that topic was off-limits. _

_We continued talking about anything and everything for the next thirty minutes. I learned of her fascination with books, that she loved to sing, how she was unsure of what she wanted to be in life, and that her favorite color was (oddly) brown. As we talked she had the cutest smile on her face. I could tell she liked me - not just because every time I reached my hand across the table to touch her, her face turned bright red. She was a different kind of person. Her eyes held every emotion she was feeling like an open book. She was very easy to read and I was very good at reading people. _

_I smiled at her when she paused in her story telling. She blushed again when she caught me staring at her. I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms across my chest. __"I think that possibly… maybe… you're falling for me." I said it with a know-it-all attitude and sat back in the chair with a huge grin on my face._

_She bristled and her face turned bright red. "Um, I'm pretty sure I'm not." _

_I laughed, uncrossing my arms and placing them on the table. "It's okay. You can be falling for me." I leaned over to grab her hand and she snatched it away from me. _

"_Don't make me punch you." She said violently. _

"_Oh, girl-who-hasn't-told-me-her-name-yet, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."  
_

_And then I winked at her. _

_._

Days later I was finally able to go back to the loft. As soon as I walked in I was bombarded with thousands of concerned and (mostly) angry questions regarding my whereabouts and the whereabouts of my cellular device, which I conveniently never answered. I rolled my eyes at the display and waved them off. I answered them with a, "I'm a grown ass man. I don't have to answer stupid questions."

That got me a punch from Jasper and a extremely hard to get out of headlock from Emmett that lasted five minutes until I had told them where I was.

Unfortunately, about an hour after I returned I wished that I hadn't. We all looked up sharply from the TV to see who had suddenly decided to barge into our apartment like they owned the place to see none other than Tanya Denali.

And because I'm a dick with absolutely no filter I said sarcastically, "Tanya, baby, d'ja miss me?"

"You assholes!" She screamed at us as she threw whatever it was in her hand at us. Magazines. She threw magazines at us, which actually (and this is a freebie) hurts really badly. I'm pretty sure I got a paper cut on my cheek.

Emmett screamed out as she continued to throw the (apparently) endless amount of magazines she held, "Hey! Tanya, watch it!"

"I can't believe you!" She stomped over to us, fury running all through her body to the point where it was visible. She grabbed one of the magazines she threw and pointed to the cover. "You're replacing me! You're _replacing_ me? With little Miss Goody Two Shoes Isabella Swan? Is this some kind of joke?"

"Uh," I pursed my lips at her while rubbing at my battle wounds. "Hate to break it to ya, Tanya, but you quit. Replacing you is naturally the next step."

Her eyes narrowed. She pointed at me. "You – stop talking." She started pacing back and forth in front of us. I shared a scared look with Emmett and Jasper and they just shook their heads. "And, _apparently_ everyone's saying I actually replaced her! I'm second choice now? You don't think that was something I should've known about?"

Jasper approached her like a bomb about to explode. "Tanya, it was high school. It was kind of a joke."

She pushed him away from her. She snarls at all of us. "Interesting how I feel like the joke now."

"Tanya, you quit."

Tanya looked exasperated. She started jumping up and down and pulled at her hair, then pointed at me with a really scary, sharp fingernail. "Because _he_ fucked me one day and then fucked some other random hoe the next."

Women – always so extra emotional about everything.

"Tanya, you guys weren't dating. You've been on tour with us enough to know that's just how he is." Jasper said rationally, backing away as he spoke. Somewhere deep inside, I resented that comment. "There's really no excuse."

She paused because she had nothing to say that then her eyes narrowed again and she screamed, "Isabella Swan! Really? Isabella Swan? You couldn't have had anyone else sing that song?"

I rolled my eyes fed up with the craziness. "She's just mad 'cause the song's doing so well." She's also probably furious no one ever begged her to come back. Not even Emmett and she had a great relationship with Emmett. But, then again _everyone_ has a great relationship with Emmett. He is a people person that way.

She snarled at me. "I could care less about that fucking song and I could guarantee that I would sing that fucking song a million times better than some slut actress."

Emmett and Jasper got all defensive then and started throwing out warnings to her. I just sat back. I couldn't really disagree with the "slut" comment. Although I didn't really appreciate the fact that someone other than me was saying it. She was a slut, but she was my slut goddammit! Wait... she's not mine. I don't want her. I don't even like her. I hate her.

There, that's better.

Finally, I decided to end all the madness. "Look, Tanya, you abandoned us when we really needed you. Yes, I take responsibility for some of what happened, but you acted immature and unprofessional and almost cost us our jobs." She shrank back as I continued. "It's been great having you in our band. You did amazing on the other tracks of the album and you will get paid for your contribution whereas the fact that you would sing the song I sang with Bella better than her is highly debatable. Now, give us whatever key you had made for our apartment and get the hell out."

She stood there shocked that I had put her in her place. I stood my ground as she stammered for a good two minutes and looked over at Jasper and Emmett for help. When they just looked down she screamed out in frustration. She threw the key down on the coffee table and marched out.

I added, "And, don't even think about bad mouthing us to the media again."

When I heard the door slam I plopped back on the couch. I huffed out, "When will all the drama end?"

Emmett threw Jasper a quick look and Jasper turned toward me on the couch.

"Edward," I knew that sound – that was the persuasive-Edward-we-need-you-to-do-something voice that I _hated_.

"Nope. Absolutely not. Whatever it is, I'm not doing it."

"We need her, Eddie." Emmett bit his lip. "I know she said no. But, I think she only said it 'cause she thinks you don't want her in the band –"

"And she would be correct."

"Edward," Jasper sighed. "Please talk to her. If she says no, then that's it. It's over forever. Bella Swan is a name you'll never have to hear again."

I licked my lips. That sounded like a pretty sweet deal. I let out a huge breath. "Ugh, I'm so over this high school bullshit."

.

"Edward," Bella looked up at me surprised. "I was expecting Emmett and Jasper."

"Yeah," I nodded and sat down unceremoniously. We were in a Starbucks and the irony of it all wasn't lost on me. "They set you up."

"Oh," She frowned and crossed her arms against her chest, almost as if to protect herself. "Are you here to yell at me?"

"Honestly, Bella, I'm so sick of fighting with you." I answered honestly and ran my hands through my hair.

"I'm sick of fighting with you, too." She said softly, looking down at her hands on the table.

I decided I didn't want to drag this out any longer than necessary. "Could you just do me a favor and go on tour with the band? It would really help me get the guys off my case?" When she didn't respond I added, "Please."

"Edward," She sipped at her coffee. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Neither do it. But, Carlisle seems to think so and Carlisle has been 100 percent right ever since we started this music thing so I trust him. If he says you are what we need then I believe him. They think you don't want to do it because of me. So this is me, telling you I want you in the band."

She began to look uncomfortable, her eyes everywhere but on me. "Edward, I don't think I could even consider being in your band unless we talked things over. Like, really talked. About us."

I bristled. That was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. I ran my hands through my hair again and tried to contain my anger. "I don't think we have anything to talk about."

She nodded and gained back her confidence. "I think we do. I think we should talk about Jake." I stiffened at his name and turned my head away from her. "And about the fact that we were once centimeters away from walking down the aisle."

I glared at the floor then turned my head to glare at her. She held my gaze, holding her ground. She wanted to talk? I'd give her a talk.

"You wanna talk?" I questioned. She nodded. "Okay, let's talk. Let's talk about the fact that you killed our baby."

Her entire body stiffened, her face turned white as a sheet and she looked frozen. She blinked at me once. Twice. Three times. I rolled my eyes.

She _so_ wasn't ready to talk.

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	5. Rosalie Hale, Truths, and Mike Newton

So, I ended up leaving Bella at the restaurant yesterday. I slightly regretted it because she looked like she had gone into some kind of post-traumatic stress induced shock and may have needed some medical attention, but I'm sure she snapped out of it eventually. I hoped. Every time I thought of it my stomach would turn into knots until I decided that someone sitting next to her would have noticed and assisted her if her condition were to have reached that bad a state.

To take my mind off things (and also to dodge questions of how my "meeting" with Bella went from Jasper and Emmett) I started playing around on my guitar. They know not to bother me when I'm playing my guitar. Jasper and Emmett were sitting on the couch across from me playing video games and looked extremely into it.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. I looked at one of them and they appeared as if they did not even hear the noise.

"Hey, guys! Door."

Emmett's face scrunched up and he replied, "You can't honestly expect us to do anything about that while I'm trying to defeat the demon dragon, do you?"

"Em, pay attention, asshole! I just got shot!" Jasper screamed at him.

"Sorry," He mumbled, jabbing furiously at his controller.

I rolled my eyes as I sat my guitar down. "I guess not."

I got up and strolled over to the door mumbling about lazy-ass friends obsessed with stupid video games.

"We heard that!" Jasper called out.

"You were meant to."

I opened the door and on the other side is this gorgeous, blonde bombshell standing there looking like she was ready to kill. I recognized her immediately.

"Rosalie Hale?" I questioned confused. At this the boys dropped their controllers and whipped their heads toward the door. I guessed the demon dragon could be put on hold for Rosalie Hale. I rolled my eyes internally and stepped back so she could walk into the apartment.

Rosalie Hale is a model. Not just a model, a supermodel. Not just any supermodel, a Victoria's Secret Super Model. And, here she was standing in our apartment looking like she was about to walk down the runway. I about jizzed my pants.

Somehow Jasper and Emmett had made it over to the door as well. _Assholes_. I cleared my throat. "Can I… Can I help you with something?"

She looked at me with steely eyes. "Are you Edward Cullen?"

I scrunched up my face. Yes, a lot of people knew who I was, but I didn't think she knew or cared at all. This was crazy. I nodded slowly.

That was a mistake.

The very second my head was on its way back down to nod a second time her hand flew out and slapped me right across the cheek.

_The fuck?  
_

"The fuck!" I screamed out. I placed a hand on my (now, probably red) face. Jesus, that hurt. "What was that for?"

She put her hands on her hip and glared at me.

I tried slowly, "Did I… did I sleep with you and forget to call you or something? I mean, I can't really understand why you just hit me."

She looked about ready to slap me again so I slowly backed away and looked over quickly at Emmett and Jasper, which was no help at all. Jasper was laughing and Emmett's eyes were just shining with excitement. Nice to know my pain is of no importance to them when Rosalie Hale is in the fucking building. I was totally telling Alice on Jasper.

She got right and my face and pointed at me. "That was for B." She scoffed at me and tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder. "Although I should slap you again for myself because you're a fucking asshole."

Wow. Pretty girl had a dirty mouth. "Who the hell is B?"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Oh, so now you're going to pretend you don't even know who she is? That's pathetic. She told me you weren't an asshole and I really wanted to believe it, but I can't. You're a _fucking_ asshole."

Jasper giggled (I was going to blast him for that later) and tried to stifle it by placing his hand over his mouth.

I was starting to become furious. First, she barges into my apartment unannounced, then she hits me, and now she wants to call me an asshole! There's only so much offense I can take on a daily basis.

I gave her the best death glare I could conjure up and said coldly, "Look, Rosalie. I have no idea why you're here. I have no idea who the hell you're talking about. And, if you don't start speaking some fucking English really fucking soon, I'm going to kick your ass out my apartment." I figured speaking her language, with all the cuss words and what not, would get an answer out of her faster.

Emmett hit me on my shoulder and whispered harshly, "No, don't do that!"

Her lip twitched and her face turned a deep red. She looked furious. "You told her she _killed_ your baby? You actually said those words? Like she doesn't already feel that way already, you actually said that to her?"

I stiffened as everything finally clicked. I was kind of pissed that she had said that because Emmett and Jasper didn't know everything that had went down between Bella and I, granted they knew some minor details, but they didn't know what really made me hate her forever. I rolled my eyes and walked away from the doorway and started toward the kitchen. I did not even bother to look at Em and Jasper's face. I did not want to have to deal with that right now. I heard Rosalie following after me and I sighed loudly.

She continued yelling at me, "Please tell me that she's crazy and imagined your entire conversation!"

I grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge, opened it and took a sip. I turned around toward her and leaned against the fridge. I stared at her, clenched my jaw and said nothing.

She was standing across from me, arms crossed, waiting for me to answer. When I didn't, her face became indignant. From outside the kitchen I heard Emmett and Jasper's footsteps. They were probably right outside the door listening.

"Tell me this then, _Edward Cullen_," She spit out my name like it tasted like poison coming out. "Do you even care that she has been a hysterical, sobbing mess for 24 straight hours? I had to cancel a _very important_ photo shoot today that could have boosted my career because I was afraid that she might physically hurt herself! The only reason I'm here now is because she finally cried herself to sleep about twenty minutes ago."

I flinched and she gasped and placed a hand to her chest. "What? Was that emotion? Does _the_ Edward Cullen actually care about someone other than himself?"

I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling and took another sip of water. Rosalie walked up to me, grabbed the water bottle from my lips (spilling water all over me, by the way) and threw it across the room, which resulted in water spraying everywhere.

This girl was a bitch.

"He-" I stopped when I saw the look on her face.

"Edward," Her voice startled me because it was softer than it had been since she asked me if I was Edward Cullen. "I have never been as scared as I was last night. I didn't know what was wrong. I thought I might have to hospitalize her." I swallowed thickly and guilt flushed through my body. "She's been fine. The past couple years, I mean. She's been fine. I thought – I thought maybe she had gotten over it, that maybe she had moved on. I mean, I haven't seen her this jittery and this upset since I first met her ten years ago."

I run a quick hand through my hair and attempted to break her icy glare by walking over toward the sink. I placed my hands on the edge of the sink with my back to her. I breathed out deeply twice, trying to keep my emotions from boiling over and out onto this (while not entirely innocent, not exactly deserving) woman.

She sighed loudly and continued in a very stern, fierce voice, "Here's what you're going to do. You're going to call her. You're going to tell her that you don't need her to be in your _stupid little band_. You are _not_ going to make her feel guilty about it. And, you're never going to mention this topic again." I bite my lip and think about what she is asking (more like telling) me to do. Forgive Bella. In essence, that is what she was asking me to do. I didn't know if I could. I didn't know if I wanted to. "Do you hear me?" When I didn't respond, she shouted louder at me, "I said do you hear me!"

"I hear you!" I strangled out through my teeth. My grip on the sink had gotten impossibly tighter; I had to let go because my hands started hurting.

A full minute passed before I heard her speak again. And, when she does speak her voice sounds teary.

"She fucking loves the three of you. A lot. I can tell. I don't know exactly what it is that she loves about _you_ or the two bozos outside listening in on a _private conversation_," She screamed out the last two words. "but it must be something pretty fucking special." I finally turned around and saw that she had let go of her defensive stance and there were tears in her eyes. "I love Bella to death and if she can't figure out what she needs then I will figure it out for her. She helped me through a rough time, it's only fair."

And, all I could think about was how this girl really loved the word "fuck".

She started walking toward the door to exit when she stopped abruptly. She looked me in the eyes and nodded as if we had come to some kind of understanding. I had barely said three words to the chick, so I wasn't exactly sure where she was coming from, but she was looking at me as if we were comrades. She smirked at me like she just knew what I was going to do and asked, "Walk me to the door?" But, there was really no question mark in the way that she demanded it.

I walked over to her and led her back to the door. On the way we passed Emmett and Jasper and I gave them a hard glare. They returned it with a "What the fuck is going on?" look spread all over their faces.

When we reached the door, I opened it and leaned against it. As she walked out I stopped her with a soft hand on her upper arm.

I swallowed. "I'll tell her. I didn't mean to say it like that. I was angry. I _am_ angry. All the time. At her."

She looked at me for a long time and as if she had suddenly made a decision, she straightened, flipped her hair across her shoulder and stated, "She doesn't think you should know. That's what she told me." She hesitated, switched her weight to her left foot and stammered, "But, if I were you and I found the girl I was in love with in the arms of another man after hearing some news like that, I would want to know."

For a brief second I had a flash of an eight year-old child running around followed by Bella and my heart grew heavy with anger. But, then I thought about her highly publicized life and realized that that would be impossible.

"She didn't abort your baby, Edward." She looked me square in the eyes and said softly, "She miscarried."

My face flushed and I stumbled in surprise, the open door, which I was leaning against, smacked me in the face. I placed a hand over where I was hit and squeaked out, "What?"

Rosalie shrugged and finally turned to exit, but stopped one last time. "But, if she had had an abortion, that was a totally uncool thing for you to say." She narrowed her eyes at me again. "I understand you, Edward, but you're a fucking asshole."

And, with that she was gone.

I stared at the space where she was once standing and gaped at it. I sunk down onto the ground and leaned up against the wall next to the door and placed my head in my hands. Everything I thought I knew has gone to shit. And, all that I know right now is that I don't know anything… if she was telling the truth. But, she didn't have any reason to lie.

I'm interrupted out of my sad inner monologue when I heard Emmett gasp in wonder.

"Who was that goddess?"

I didn't look up because I could feel my eyes tearing up and I didn't want to come off as a pussy. I kept my face in my hands.

"What the fuck is going on, Edward?" Jasper yelled, sounding a lot closer to me than he was moments earlier. "Bella miscarried? Was this – was this around the same time as Jake… I just don't – I don't-don't understand?"

I whipped my head up at him and directed all my misplaced anger at him. "What, you didn't get enough information from the eavesdropping session you partook in a few moments ago? Did you need me to fill in some of the blanks in _my life_ for you?" His face turned red and he slowly backed away as I continued viciously, "Oh, that's not it. Did you want me to call someone from my long, dark past to record a song with us because you think it'd be a great idea? I mean, you already know that I wrote that song about her, why not have her sing it to? Is that what you want? Who cares if it all blows the fuck up in my face, right? You don't care!" I was up on my feet by now. I bumped him harshly on his shoulder as I walked past him heading toward my room. "You sure as hell don't."

When I slammed my door shut, I heard from the outside Emmett muttered again to himself, "But… who the hell was that goddess?"

.

I had stewed long enough. I had paced long enough. My nails had been chewed. My room destroyed. There wasn't anymore possible venting I could do inside my room. I stormed out, grabbed my car keys, and headed straight to Carlisle's.

When I got to his house, I let myself in. Not wanting to waste any time I yelled through the house, "Carlisle? Carlisle, where are you?"

"Yeah! I'm in here." I followed his voice into his office where he was typing away on his computer. He looked up from his computer quickly and then continued whatever he was working on.

"Well, you look like shit."

I licked my lips and debated whether I should sit down or just spit out what I needed.

"I need Bella's address."

Carlisle's eyebrows shot up into his hairline but he didn't look away from the computer.

"Is that so?" He laughed softly. "What's with the sudden change of heart?

I rubbed at my chin as tears shot to my eyes. "Bella had a miscarriage." He stopped typing and his eyes shot up to meet mine. "All this time I thought she had an abortion without even consulting me or telling me or considering me in her decision. And, I've given her so much shit for it and she… just… let me."

I watched as his hands slowly slid from the keyboard onto his lap. He was shocked. I could tell. It was the face I wore only hours ago.

"And now I feel like I'm grieving all over again." I said as I finally fell apart. I began crying softly in my hands. But, that manly kind of crying, which is totally acceptable and not ridiculous or womanly in any way, shape, or form.

Carlisle had come over from his side of the desk and leaned against it right in front of me. He crossed his arms against his chest and waited me out. Once I had finally calmed down, he handed me a box of Kleenex silently and re-crossed his arm against his chest.

Carlisle asked, "What do you plan on doing about it?"

"I'm not sure." I answered honestly. I run a hand through my hair. "I'm still angry. I feel like shit, but I'm still angry at her for keeping this from me, for lying to me. I'm angry that she had to go through this alone. I'm angry that she didn't feel like she could tell me and I'm mostly angry that I believed she could actually do something like that without telling me."

Carlisle nodded and handed me another Kleenex. I blew my nose. "I think you should tell her that. I think it's time you and her had an actual conversation that didn't involve any accusations, yelling or swearing."

He was right. I wiped my eyes and under my nose.

"I'm going to need that address."

He looked at me for a long time and then nodded, "I'll get it from Esme."

.

I knocked on the door. More like pounded. But, I wanted to make sure she heard me. It was 2 o'clock in the morning. I instantly regretted banging that loud on her door. I didn't want her neighbors to call the cops before she even opened the door.

Finally, it swung open to reveal a very worn out Bella. She had huge bags under her eyes. Her eyes were blood shot. She was wearing a huge hooded sweatshirt and boxer shorts. She looked like someone just ran her over with a car.

Or like someone just told her she killed her baby.

I felt like shit. Worse than shit, even – if that existed.

My face began to crumble. She scrunched her face up at me, narrowed her eyes and then her face relaxed. She spat out angrily, "Rosalie."

I nodded and she let me in her apartment. I sat myself down on her couch and she sat next to me.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I swallowed thickly. "Why did you let me continue to say those hurtful things to you?"

"I figured," She sighed as her eyes began to tear up as well. "if by hating me, I could save you an ounce of the pain I went through when I lost our baby, that would be okay with me."

I breathed in quickly and quickly rubbed at my face as I felt betrayal tears escaping from my eyes.

She cried and grabbed one of my hands. "I'm so sorry you had to find out."

I ripped my hand away from her and her face crumpled again. "How could you not trust me enough to help you through this? How could you turn to _Jacob Black_ instead of me?"

She grabbed a pillow and squeezed it tightly to her chest. "He was there! He was there when I – when it happened. He was there. He was at the hospital. You weren't answering your phone. And, you were the only person who knew. And, he was there."

I looked at her angrily and shook my head. "I walked in on you to kissing."

"_He_ kissed me."

"Don't give me that –" I stopped when I remembered Carlisle told me no swearing. I turned my head away from her. So, I just repeated. "_Don't_."

"It's the truth!"

"No," I demanded. She was not going to pull the "I wasn't kissing him, he was kissing me" stunt right now.

"It is." She stated watery and she just shrugged.

"You knew he liked you. You knew he was in love with you." I accused. "Why would you let him get that close to you?"

"_I needed to be held!"_ She rushed out, hysterically and threw her pillow at me. "I was bleeding from my fucking uterus and you were nowhere to be found! Nowhere! You were off with your stupid little band doing God knows what! Jacob was there." Tears fell from her eyes at an amazing pace. "Jacob was there."

I turned toward her and grabbed her face with my hands. "Why didn't you let me be there? You could have found me. You didn't try hard enough."

We were both a sobbing mess. I felt like it was ten years ago and this whole fiasco had just happened. I felt like my heart was breaking all over again. I felt like such a woman for feeling like this.

She licked her lips and latched onto my upper arms that held her face. "Partly, because I truly, honestly felt like I had done something wrong and that was why I lost the – our baby. So, when you said I killed the baby, I didn't correct you." She pulled a piece of hair behind her ear and stared at the wall next to my face. "But, I went to a help group where they help you through grieving… especially for miscarriages and that's where I met Rosalie." She licked her lips and wrung her hands. "They told me there wasn't anything I could do, that it wasn't my fault. But, it's hard to believe that, you know? I mean, the one thing my body is supposed to be able to do and it can't do it right. I was given one job: protect the baby that was growing inside me and I couldn't do it. I failed… as a mother, as a girlfriend… as a woman. I felt like… I sometimes _still feel like_ I killed our baby."

"Oh, baby, I'm so sorry," I pulled her into my arms and she cried into my chest. I ran my hands through her hair. She pushed me away on purpose, that's what she was trying to tell me. She felt like she had let me down and she ran away. Well, I wasn't going to let her run away any further. I continuously murmured in her ear, "I'm here now. I'm here now."

Ten years later and my feelings for this woman were still so incredibly strong. It went from intense love to extreme hate in seconds. I didn't know what I was feeling now, but I knew I wanted to kiss her.

I pulled her face back so I could see her face and stroked her cheeks with my thumbs. "Don't you ever run away from me again, Isabella Swan."

She let out a soft, "Okay," and tried to nod, which wasn't quite so easy with my firm hold on her face.

"Promise me."

Tears fell over my thumb. "I promise."

I laughed and looked deeply into her eyes. When I was satisfied with what I saw there, I bent down to kiss her. When my lips were almost pressed against hers, she whispered out, "We probably shouldn't."

"Why?"

"Knock, knock!" A voice (a male voice) said from outside her apartment. She sprang away from me so fast, you would have thought I had leprosy. We heard the door open and we heard him head toward the kitchen and rustle around for a minute.

I mouthed, "Who's that?" to her, but she just started wiping her eyes and her face and brushing her hair back with her fingers.

He began to speak loudly from his location, "So, I couldn't find _The Notebook_ anywhere, which is crazy because that movie is literally everywhere. So, I ran over to my mom's house 'cause I know she has, like, the biggest Nicholas Sparks' book collection and grabbed the book. Now she tells me it's not exactly the same but I figured, you know, we could snuggle up, I could read it to you, and it'd almost be the exact same thing. What do you – "

He had finally made his way to where we were. This man was tall (not taller than me, but at least six feet). He had blonde hair, blue eyes and his face was unshaven. He was wearing a gray t-shirt and jeans. I scoffed at the very idea of this man. He was carrying a book, a carton of ice cream and two spoons. It was like he didn't even notice me standing there. He set down his items and went straight for Bella.

"Oh, honey, you were crying again? I was only gone for thirty minutes." He sat down, pulled her into his lap and kissed her eyelids softly and laughed softly. He finally looked over onto the other side of the couch and jumped. "Oh, hello," He looked over at Bella quickly. "Little early for visits, yeah?"

"Um, Mike, this is Edward Cullen," She said, pointing her hand out toward me. "Edward, this is Michael Newton."

"Ah yes," Mike nodded, knowingly. He rubbed her arms up and down with his hands (protectively?) and looked at her sideways. "Did you guys sort everything out?"

She smiled weakly up at him. "We did."

"Great," He smiled brightly. He looked over at me sharply. My eyes narrowed. "It was nice meeting you, Edward."

That was a threat if I ever heard one. He not only was kicking me out of _Bella's_ apartment, but he was letting me know that she was his and I was overstepping my boundaries. He knew who I was and he was not intimidated. Was everyone who hung around Bella now so headstrong and harsh?

I did not take this lightly. Hell, no. I just got her back in my life. We just got everything sorted out. I was not ready to let her fall back into the arms of some random nobody because of a misunderstanding.

I got up slowly and said to Bella, "Rosalie said that I'm supposed to let you know that you don't have to be in the band." As I say the next part, I look at Mike the entire time. "But, I want you in the band. We have good chemistry. You and me… it works Bella. I understand now. So, I won't be in your way. I won't make things difficult for you. Please join our band... for me."

She nodded slowly and then firmly. Her eyes tear up again. "I'd love to be in your band, Edward."

I smile brightly. "Okay." I licked my lips and inwardly laugh at Newton's frown. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay," I hear her mumble from behind me.

Oh, Mike Newton, you have another thought coming if you think you're going to stroll in out of nowhere and take my woman. Another. Thought. Coming.

* * *

**Haha, so I really liked how one reviewer put it. So before I start this a/n I want to give props to Kgunter34 for this name.  
**

**It seems as though as soon as we kill one "drama llama" another one rears its ugly head. hahaha. Lots happened in this chapter. Check out the blog for my thoughts on it. (angieferrarifanfics . blogspot . com) **

**Also, don't forget to review. **

**Angie :) **


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